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In the end it doesn't matter. Even if the name was taken from a real person, the Jesus of the NT bears little or no resemblance to any particular individual. Someone mentioned Macbeth in another post -- Macbeth was a real person, but not the character in Shakespeare's play. My point is, let the apologists have a historical Jesus & the problem of the mythical character remains.

I believe a man may have existed upon which the character of Jesus was based. I believe the vast majority of miracles and deeds attributed to Jesus are plagiarized from other works. I don't believe that any of those miracles actually occurred.

Jesus not only died physically on the cross – He died spiritually. While Jesus hung there, God the Father reached back in time and took the spiritual death that had been generated by Adam's sin and those who came after him and placed it on Jesus Christ.

Then (because He created time and lives outside of it) God looked forward in time and took all the spiritual death generated by you and me and all the other men and women who will be born until the end of time and put that death on Jesus too.

This is why Jesus cried, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?" He was experiencing to the fullest the spiritual death generated by countless men and women throughout the ages.

He literally experienced spiritual hell on the cross as He was cut off from God, even though He committed no sin and was not deserving of death. He actually died spiritually in the place of humankind. Who knew that a crucifixion so far away could mean so much?

How come nobody asks if a man who did stay dead for only three days could still manage to pay off several billion eternities of separation from God? I can answer that.

Jesus, though He was in human form, was actually the infinite God. If He had suffered spiritual death for even 10 minutes, He would have generated more than enough death to pay for the 100 billion eternities of separation from God. Remember He was giving up infinite life, and infinity multiplied times anything still equals infinity.

Claudia -- this is the first post from you I've seen, so perhaps you are unaware that this site is explicitly off-limits to religious proselytizing. I'm sure there are many places you can discuss your take on the Christian doctrine of atonement.

Arnold: I DID NOT try to make religious proselytizing. It was like a joke for me. I wanted to show that if you ask Anachro's question seriously in the context of religious belief, likely you will get this kind of answer. The whole thing does not make sense to me either.